The assessment had already ended.
The Grand Formation lay shattered beyond repair, its authority dissolved into fragments of broken law.
Azriel, Aizrel, Mu Long, Princess Lainsa, and the twin subordinates fought along the outer edge of the ruins, near the Association's border. They counted kills. They measured survival. None of them realized the trial they were struggling through no longer existed.
Far beneath them, inside the dead anthill, judgment waited.
The Heart Demon stood motionless, watching.
The Yaksha Queen hovered weakly at the center of the ruined chamber. Her army no longer moved with discipline or rage. They stood with heads lowered, expressions carved with fear, humiliation, and disbelief.
They had lost.
Not to a rival species.
Not to gods.
But to what they still considered lowly humans.
